Door-operating mechanism



Jan. 23, 1923.

J. E. OCAUNNORl DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

FILED JUNE 30,1921.

i Patented Jan. 23, 1923.

N. oniieo--4 stares JOHN F. OCONNQE, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. MINER, 0F CRAZY, NEW YORK.

DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application filed June 30, 1921. Y Serial No. 481,553.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Jer-1N ll. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in j Door-Operating Mechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in door operating mechanisms.

In the operation of door mechanisms for dumping cars it is highly desirable to `provide a certain amount of lost motion between the part direct-ly engaged by the operatingtools such as the claw bar and the main` shaft proper of the door mechanism,

during the opening movements of the doors in order to eliminate possible injury to the operators@ Heretofore, where no such lost motion safety devices have been employed, frequentinjury to the operators has occurred due to the load on the doors causing the shaftvto rotate at high speed and thereby j wrenching the operating tool from the hands of the: operator and causing the tooll to strike. and injure the operator.

j' The, object of my invention AJis to provide ai simple and relatively-inexpensive and. compact `safety device A involving any desired amount of lost motion between the `part of the mechanism directly actuated by the operating tool andthe shaft proper Aof the mechanism.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, lullig.A 1 is an elevational view Aoftheend of the door operating mechanism such as found on a dump car and wherein is embodied my invention. Fig. 2 is a ver- 1 `tical sectional view taken substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical secional view taken substantially on the line In said drawing, 13 denotes a portion of yan operating shaft of a doormechanism which may be of any well knownform and j. proper will be of,l that' type wherein the link- `ages are self-locked whenthe doors are in closed position and where it is required to rotate the door shaft through a` short arc in4 weer.' te' rel-w@ the linkages before the drawing,

`device which comprises, broadly, an outer clutch member A; an inner clutch member B; a gear C; and a plurality of pinions or spur gears The clutch member B is formed with a hub 11 having a recess of square or other non-circular formation 12 adapted to fit over the correspondingly shaped end of the shaft 13 of the door operating mechanism proper. The clutch member B is permanently and rigidly secured to said shaft 13 by any suitable means such as the rivet 14.

In addition to the hub 11 the clutch member B is provided with an annular ange 15, from the periphery of which extend a series of radially disposed teeth 16 cooperable with a pivoted locking dog 17 in a well-known manner to lock the mechanism when the doors are in closed position.

Applied to the annular dangle 15 is a cover plate or cap 18, the two parts being rigidly secured as by rivets 19-19. By means of the cap 18 and flange 15, a conibined housing and bearing is formed for the inner member of the clutch A and the other parts of the mechanism as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 2.

The gear C is preferably made 'integral with the clutch member Bv and is located in axial alinement with the shaft 18. In actual practice. there will preferably be 12 teeth on said gear C.

The clutch member A is the one directly operated by the claw bar or other tool usually used in unloading cars. For this purpose the ymember A is provided with an outwardly projecting squared section 20 and adapted to receive the `claw bar. `At the inner end of the squared section 20, the clutch member A is formed witha circular flange 21 fitting `inside of the cap 1S as best shown in Fig. 2. Integrally formed with said fiange 21 `and extending inwardly therefrom are, in the embodiment shown in the three studs 22e-22 uniformly spaced with respect to the anis of the shaft 13.

Mounted on each stud 22 and freely rotatable thereon is a pinion D, the teeth of clearly shown in Fig. 3.

essary amount of lost motion between the rection will clutch members A and B as about to be described.

In Figure 1 of the drawing, the parts are shown in the position assumed after the doors have been closed. To unwind or re! lease the door operating mechanism and thus open the doors, the operation is as follows: The operator first applies the claw bar or other suitable tool to the squared section 20 of the clutch member A and rotates the latter in a counter-clockwise direction a slight amount and sufficient to permit disengagement of the locking dog 17. The

`operator then turns the clutch member A in a clockwise direction and at this point it will be understood that the door operating mechanism is in self-locked condition so that the shaft 13 and gear C carried thereby will remain stationary until some. direct turning force is applied to the shaft i3. As the operator continues the rotation of the clutch member 'A in a clockwise direction, the pinions D will travel bodily around the gear C and also, due to the planetary gearing arrangement illustrated, the pinions D will be given a relatively slow individual rotation in a clockwise direction about each of their respective studs 22. This action willcontinue until the pinions D havebeen rotated in a clockwise direction about their individual axes sufficient to bring the stop webs 25 against the opposite sides of the pins 26. s will be understood by those skilled in the art, this amount of lost motion may be varied as desired by changing the length of the annular groove 24 and the ratio of the teeth of the gear Cto the teeth of the pinions D. At the end of the action just described and when the stop webs 25 come into engagement with the pinsl 26, thev pinions D are then locked against any further rotation about their individual axes .and consequently, continued rotation of the clutch member, A in a 'clockwise diproduce rotation of 'the gear C and the shaft `13 in a clockwise di rection. This latterV action is continued until the shaft 13 has been rotated ,sufficiently to cause release or unlocking of the door' operating mechanism proper and,`

therefore, ythe shaft 13 will be rot-ated under the load on the doors. During the running described and in view of the fact that there are only twelve teeth on the gear C more than a complete free rotation of the gear C and shaft 13 is allowed with respect to the clutch member A until the condition is restored as shown in Fig. 3.

I have herein shownand described what I now consider the `preferred manner oi' carrying out the invention, but `the same is merely illustrative and I contemplatev all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

claim:

1. In a safety device for door operatingr mechanisms, the combination with two relatively rotatable clutch members, one of which is adapted toy be manually operated and the otherof which is adapted to rotate always simultaneouslyl with a shaft of the ,y mechanism; of a gear rigid withone of said clutch members; a pinion in mesh with said gear, said pinion being rotatable about a stub shaft axially arranged with reference thereto and carried by the other of said clutch members; and cooperable means and the member by which it is carried arranged to limit the rotation of said pinion with respect to the clutch member carrying it to less"than a complete revolution about its individual axis. Y

2. In a safety device for door operating mechanisms, the. combination with two relatively rotatable clutch members, `one i of which is adapted to be manually operated and the other of which is adaptedto rotate always simultaneously with a shaft lof the mechanism; of a gearrigid with one of Vsaid clutch members; a plurality of pinionsuniformly spaced around said gear and in'mesh therewith, each of Vsaid pinions being rotatably mounted about an individual axis on the otherf of4 said clutch members; and cooperable means on each pinion and the clutch on said pinion member by which they are carriedV arranged rotatably mounted about an individual axis on said tool operated lclutch member, said pinion being provided with peripheral external teeth meshing with said gear; and cooperating` means on said pinion and the tool operated clutch member arranged to limit the rotation of said pinion With respect to the tool operated clutch member to less than a complete revolution about its individual ams.

' 4:. In a safety devivek `for door operating mechanisms, the combination with a tool operated` clutch member; of a secoinl clutch member adapted to be rigidly secured to a shaft of the mechanism; a gear rigid with said second named clutch member; a plurality of pinions uniformly spaced around said gear and in mesh therewith; each oi said pinions being rotatably mounted about an individual axis on said tool operated clutch member; and cooperable means on said tool operated clutch member and each or the pinions arranged to limit the rotation of each pinion about its individual axis to less than a complete revolution.

5. ln a safety device for door operating mechanisms7 the combination with a clutch member adaptedito be rigidly secured to a shaft oiC the mechanism, said member having an annular flange; et a cap plate secured to said annular flange and forming there With a housing; peripheral teeth carried by said clutch member; a tool operated clutch member rotatably mounted Within said housing; a gear within said housing;- rigid with said first named clutch member and located centrally thereof; a plurality oi' bearing stu-ds carried by said tool operated clutch member and disposed uniformly around said gear; a pinion loosely rotatably mounted on each ot' said bearing studs; said pinions being in mesh with said gear; each pinion having;` an incomplete annular groove on the side thereof adjacent the tool operated clutch member; and a pin rigid with said clutch member extending into each of said grooves.

in Witness that l claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 23rd day of June 1921.

JOHN F. @CONNOR lVitnesses CARRIE GALLING, ANN BAKER. 

